Fluid circulation in absorption refrigerators



March 28,1939. (5. P. DAIGER FLUID CIRCULATION IN ABS ORPTIONREFRIGERATORS Original Filed May 17, 1955 INVENTOR l'er-oe finger Geo/ye$4 5 3.

ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 28, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CIRCULATIONIN ABSORPTIO REFRIGERATORS .George Pierce Daiger, North Canton, Ohio,as-

signor to The Hoover Company, North Canton,

Ohio, a corporation 0! Ohio Application May 17, 1935, Serial No. 21,920

' Renewed August 16, 1938 12 Claims.

- This invention relatesto absorption refrigerating apparatus and moreparticularly to that type in which an inert gas is employed and to meansfor circulating the inert gas therein. 7

Absorption refrigerating systems which use an" inert gas as a pressureequalizing medium are well known. In accordance with prior practice twoor more vessels are connected by gas conduits and inert gas iscirculated between these vessels.

The inert gas has been circulated in various W ays.

A fan may be employed for this purpose,

gases are apt to leak through the stuffing box around the shaft.

In accordance with more modern practice the inert gas has beencirculated by gravity action.

This has the advantage that the apparatus may be hermetically sealed butsince the circulation is dependent upon variable factors the quantitycirculated in a. unit controlled.-

of time cannot be very accurately It is anobject oi the presentinvention to pro vide a gas circulating system which has the advantages,but not the disadvantages,

rangements mentioned.

In accordance with the present invention it is,

of both arproposed to circulate the gas in a hermetically sealedsystem-while providing accurate regulation of the flow.

vIt is a furtherobject to provide a simple, com pact gas pump in which avibrating member imparts movement to the-gas.

vide, a rugged gas fan construction which will have long life, whichwillbe silent, or nearly 7 silent, in operation, and which will require no,

lubrication.

Various other features reside in the novel arrangement and constructionof parts as will be apparent from the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in

which therein Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of one form ofgas pump embodying the features of present invention;

Figure 3 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the the same pump takenon the line 33 of Figure *2, and

Figure 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the pump taken on theline 4-4 of Figure 2. Referring to the drawing in detail, and first tothe arrangement of Figure 1, it will be seen that, a somewhatconventional diagram of a continuous absorption refrigerating systemusing inert gas is there shown and consisting of a boiler B, a gasseparation chamber S, a condenser C, an evaporator E and an absorber A,these vessels being connected by various conduits. This type ofapparatus is very well known and need not be described here in detail.

In the arrangement illustrated in Figure 1 the boiler B and the absorberA- are connected with the separation chamber S bymeans of conduits H, I!and I3 for providing a circuit for the flow of absorption liquid such aswater. The conduit l I acts as a gas lift pump to promote thiscirculation, and as indicated. the conduits l2.and l3 may be-in heatexchange relation. In this figure, (and also in Figure 2) the solutionflow is indicated by full line arrows. Refrigerant, as ammonia, may beexpelled in the boiler B and the gas separation chamber S and passupwardly through the conduit l4, part of which may act as a rectifier,condense in the condenser C and be fed into the evaporator E as a liquidthrough the conduit IS. The evaporator E is connected to the absorber Aby means of gas conduits l6 and I1. These may be in heat exchangerelation but this is not shown in Figure 1 for the purpose of clarity.Inert gas, such as hydrogen, may be circulated through conduits l6 andI! to convey f the refrigerant to the absorber, where it may be absorbedbythe absorption liquid and returned to the boiler. On'e difficultyencountered where in- Yert gas is circulated by the action of gravity isthat the'absorber must be located in a definite position with respect tothe evaporator and the circulation of inert gas must take place in a theevaporator and the'absorber from operating at maximum efliciency. Inaccordance with the present invention, the absorber may be located. 6above or below the evaporator, or any convenient distance therefrom,without interferring with the gas circulation. Thus, while Figure 1illustrates the absorber A alongside of the evaporator E, it is to beunderstood that this position is not critical- The gas pump forpromoting the circulation Jo'f inert gas between the evaporator E andthe absorber A is shown in Figures 1 and 2 as-mounted on the top of theabsorber- A and fed bygas coming through the" conduit IS, The pump maybe located anywhere in the gas circuit,however, and

may be disposed in either a vertical or horizonsorber', as illustratedin Figure 2, or formed in any, other suitable way. As shown in Figure 4,it is preferably rectangular in cross-section. A vibrating blade or fln22 is mounted for oscillatory movement in the diverging chamber 2i andis caused to vibrate back and forth by means of an electro-magnet 23. Asillustrated in detail in Figures 2 and 3, the vibrating blade assemblymay include 2. bob weight 24 mounted on the lower end thereof, andre-enforcing spring ,members 25 and'an armature 26 riveted. or otherwisesecured, near its upper'end.

For mounting the blade and for hermetically sealing it from theatmosphere as well as for providing a connection for the flow of gasfrom the conduit l6 into the diverging chamber 2i, :3; casing consistingof two parts 21 and 28 is provided. Each of theseparts is provided witha flange which may be bolted or otherwise rigidly, and tightly securedto the flange29 welded to the top of the diverging chamber 2!.

The blade assembly may be secured to a supporting block 30 (-Fig. 2)which may be bolted to the part 21 as illustrated. -The conduit 16 maybe welded to this part 21 also. The other portion 28 of the casing maysupport the electromagnet 23 and also a housing 3| for the electromagnet.

- In order to provide a practical magnetic circuit between the field-ofthe electro-magnet 23 and the armature 26 two pole pieces 32 areinserted/in and peened or welded to the portion 28 of the casing, thesepole pieces thus constituting a part of the wall ofthe casing.Theremainder of the casing should preferably be non-magnetic or nearlyso. Certain forms of stainless steel have been found suitable for thispurpose. As illustrated in Figure 3 the armature 26 extends laterallyacross the casing and its ends are positioned very close to the polepieces 32.

With this arrangement the armature moves but slightly and there is butslight flexing of the upper end of the blade 22 and the reenforcingspring 25. Due to the flexibility of the member 22,

however, the lower end of the blade 22 has a wide oscillatory movement,the quick movement of the armature producing a whipping action on thelower portion of the blade.

In the arrangement illustrated the electromagnet 23 may be connected toany suitablesource of alternating current seas to cause movement of thearmature 26. In accordance with -known practice in the electrical artvarious devices such as interrupters, equivalent to the magnet shown,may be employed for efie'cting movement of the armature.

Movement of the blade through this chamber as indicated by the arrowsshown-with dashed lines. be partly due to the shape of the divergingchamber, but-it is believed to be due primarily to the vibration of theblade and to the fact that the lower portion of the blade 22 moves agreater. distance'than the upper portion thereof. While the theoreticalreasons for the gas movement are not fully understood by applicant atthe present time, it has been found by practical experiment :2 m thechamber 2| as described above causes gas to flow downwardly Thismovement may that oscillation of the blade 22 causes a definite movementof the gas in the direction indicated.

In the arrangement of Figure 1 ii ammonia is used as the-refrigerant andhydrogen as the inert gas; the natural tendency for the flow of thegases through the evaporator, the absorber and the connecting conduitswould be in the opposite direction to that indicated by the dashedarrows.

tion arrangement may be employed with'any inert gas, whether condensibleor non-condensible.

Also the vibrating fin or blade may take a wide variety of shapes orforms and be mounted in various ways, either pivotally or fixed.

Various other arrangements may be employed without departing from thespirit of the invention or the scope of the annexed claims.

I claim: a v v 1. In a hermetically sealed absorption refrigeratingsystem, a pump for circulating a fluid within the system, said pumpincluding a diverging chamber, a fin mounted for vibratory movement insaid chamber and means for vibrating said fln.

2. In a hermetically sealed absorption refrigerating system, a pump forcirculating a fluid within the system, said pump including a conduit forthe fluid, a blade mounted for oscillatory movement in said conduit andmeans for oscillating said blade.

3, In a hermetically sealed absorption refrigerating system, a pump forcirculating a fluid therein, said pump including a conduit for thefluid, a flexible blade having one end fixed in said conduit and theother end freely suspended for oscillatory movement in said conduit andmeans for causing the free end of said blade to oscillate. K

4. In a hermetically sealed absorption refrigerating system, a pump forcirculating a fluid therein, said pump including a conduit for thefluid, a flexible blade having one endflxed in said conduit and theother end freely suspended for oscillatory movement in said conduit andan electromagnet for causing the free end of said blade to oscillate,said blade having an armature and reenforcing means secured thereto nearits fixed end whereby small movement is imparted to said blade near itsfixed end by said electromagnet and large movement imparted to the freeend of said blade with a whipping action.

5. In an absorption refrigerating system,apump for circulating a fluidtherein, said pump including a conduit for the fluid, an elongatedmember having one endsecured to said conduit and the other end free foroscillatory movement and means for oscillating said free end.

6. In a hermeticallysealed continuous absorp tion refrigerating systemusing an inert gas, the combination of an evaporator, an absorber, afirst conduit connecting the corresponding ends of the evaporator andabsorber, and a second conduit connecting the opposite ends of theevaporator and absorber and including as a part thereof an inert gascirculating means, said absorber cooperating with said meansto provide achamber having divergent walls, a fin mounted in said chamber having afree end near the larger end of said chamber, and means externally ofsaid chamber to vibrate said fin to cause movement of the inert gasthrough thesystem as a result of the impingement of the fln thereon.

'7. In a hermetically sealed continuous absorption refrigerating systemusing an inert gas. the combination of an evaporator chamber, anabsorber chamber, a first means providing a passage between thecorresponding ends of the evaporator and absorber, a second meansproviding a passage between the opposite end portions of the evaporatorand absorber, said second means cooperating with one of said chambers toprovide a chamber a portion of which has divergent walls, a tin mountedfor vibratory movement in said last named chamber, and means operable tovibrate said fin whereby circulation of the inert gas in the systemtakes place.

8. In a hermetically sealed continuous absorption refrigerating systemusing an inert gas, the combination of an evaporator chamber, anabsorber chamber, a first means providing a passage between thecorresponding ends of the evaporator. and absorber, a second meansproviding a passage between the opposite end portions of theevaporatorand absorber, said second means cooperating with one of saidchambers to provide a chamber a portion of which is enlarged, a membermounted in said last named chamber having a portion free for to-and-fromovement near said enlargement, and electro-magnetic means external tosaid chamber operable to actuate said member whereby circulation of the.inert gas in the system takes place.

9. A device for causing flow of fluid in a unia directional path along aconductor, comprising a movable flexible strip in said conductor andspaced fl'omthe wall thereof to provide free passage of the fluid alongthe opposite sides of said movable flexiblestrip, and electromagneticmeans for vibrating said movable member to impel the fluid in saidconductor in a substantially unidirectional path along the oppositesides of said movable member.

- 10. A device for causing fluid to flow in a unidirectional path alonga conductor, comprising a movable member in said conductor and having awide surface exposed substantially parallel to the desired direction offluid flow in said conductor, and electromagnetic means for vibratingsaid movable member in a plane other than the plane of said member toimpel the fluid in said conductor along said exposed surface and in asubstantially unidirectional path.

11. A device for causing fluid to flow in a conductor, comprising amember in said conductor and having. a movable portion adapted to bevibrated, said movable portion having a wide surface fully exposed toprovide unrestricted contact with the fluid in said conductor, andelectromagnetic means for vibrating said movable portion in a planeother than the plane of said member to impel movement of said fluid in asubstantially unidirectional path along said con ductor.

12. A device for causing fluid flow along a con ductor comprisingaflnmember supported within the conductor and having a flat surfacesubstantially parallel with the axis of the conduit a portion thereofbeing free for to-and-fro movement in the path of the fluid to impel thefluid in said conductor in a unidirectional path, and electro-magnetiemeans external to said conductor and operable when energized to impartsaid to and fro movement to said free portion.

GEORGE PIERCE DAIGER.

